Message: I am trying to tie dye a running shirt that is 100% polyester.  Is this going to be possible?  Your site is wonderful, thanks for sharing!

Yes, it is possible. Tie-dyeing a polyester shirt is very different from tie-dyeing cotton. You must use completely different dyes. No dyes that work on natural fibers will work on polyester; you'll need to use a special polyester dye called disperse dye, or else give up on dye altogether and use fabric paints.

You can buy disperse dyes (see "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes"), tie your shirt, and drop the shirt into the boiling dye for an hour or so. This requires that you use the traditional method of tie-dyeing, in which only one color is applied at a time. For multi-colored effects, complete the dyeing, then untie the shirt, retie it in a different pattern, and drop the shirt into another color of boiling dye. If you do this with two colors of dyebaths, you will get large regions that are a combination of the two colors, with smaller areas of just one color or the other, where the ties block one of the dyes from reaching the fabric.

Another method is to buy disperse dyes transfer crayons, and use them to make designs on paper. You can then iron the design onto the polyester fabric. See "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers". The crayon look exactly like ordinary wax crayons, but they are made of a completely different material (don't confuse the two types of crayons!). You can buy these transfer crayons from a fabric store, or sometimes from large stores such as Target or Walmart, and you can also order them from a dye supplier such as Dharma Trading Company.

The third method is to use fabric paint instead of dye. This has the advantage of not requiring high heat, as the disperse dyes do, though some paints will need to be heat-set briefly as directed by the manufacturer. Be sure to use only those fabric paints that are claimed to be able to work on synthetic fabrics. Some fabric paints will work well only on natural fibers. I recommend that you use either Dye-Na-Flow, a fabric paint made by Jacquard Products to flow like dye, or the Dharma Pigment Dyes fabric paints sold by Dharma Trading Company. The latter are more economical. Dilute the fabric paints with water (up to 25% as much water as paint for the Dye-Na-Flow paints, or up to 400% as much water as paint for the Dharma Pigment Dyes), following the manufacturers' instructions, then dip the fabric into the paint, or squirt it on with plastic bottles or apply it with a paint brush. Allow the fabric to dry thoroughly before heat-setting.

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